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Monday, 17 August 2015

FG set to recruit 10,000 policemen

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday unveiled Federal Government’s plans
to recruit 10,000 policemen 2 years after the last recruitment by the
Nigeria Police Force.
President Buhari, who spoke at the National Security Summit on Community
Partnership Approach to Internal Security and Crime Management,
organised by the police in Abuja, said the government will also
establish a well-trained and equipped anti-terrorism and multi-agency
based task force to address the challenges of insurgency in a
sustainable manner.

President Buhari also said that efforts were being made to enhance the
operational capacity of officers of the Nigeria Police Force through a
training programme targeted at giving them the right civil orientation
in performing their roles as guardians of the Constitution.

At the summit, the President stated that the government was already
considering the expansion of the Closed Circuit Television across major
cities and towns in the country.

He said:

“It is in acknowledgement of this that I have identified youth
empowerment as one of the cardinal objectives of our administration; in
furtherance to this, the Federal Government is planning to employ at
least an extra 10, 000 police officers and establish a properly trained
and equipped federal anti-terrorism multi-agency task force that will
effectively address the challenge of future insurgency in a sustainable
manner.

“In the meantime, efforts are being made to enhance the operational
capacity of officers of the Nigeria Police through a tailor made
training programme that will give them the right civil orientation in
their roles as guardians of the constitution. “In order to further
strengthen security of the public space, consideration is being given to
the expansion of the CCTV monitoring system across major cities and
towns in the country, while the police accountability mechanism will be
strengthened.”

In appreciation of the strategic roles of the citizens and the community
in modern policing, the President stated that his administration will
encourage states to look at state-level community police interaction.

He commended the police leadership for dismantling roadblocks and
deploying policemen in the highway to protect Nigerians. The
Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, called for funding of the
Nigeria Police to ensure operational efficiency, stressing that it was
only through adequate funding that the huge logistic demand of the
police could be met. Arase noted that modern policing was a
cost-intensive venture, which he said the benefits far outweighed the
value of budgetary investment.
“Through effective funding, the welfare needs of police personnel will
be met and the challenge of corruption that has eroded professionalism
and public respect for police will be addressed,” he said.

He called for the resuscitation and passage of the Bill on Police Trust
Fund pending before the National Assembly to enhance public-police
partnership. The bill seeks to tax corporate entities to complement the
Federal Government in funding the police.

Arase maintained that if the bill was passed into law, the funding
challenges of the police would be addressed on a sustainable basis. He
said that the security challenges in the country and inadequate manpower
would be best addressed through citizens-driven policing model.